Pfizer Celebrex Suit Stayed Pending High Court Case

Pfizer Celebrex Suit Stayed Pending High Court Case - 6/24/2009

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

DISMISSAL NEWS:

Pfizer Celebrex Suit Stayed Pending High Court Case
Shannon Henson

Securities Law 360. June 24, 2009
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EXCERPT: A judge has stayed a securities fraud class action accusing Pfizer Inc. of misrepresenting clinical studies of arthritis painkiller Celebrex because the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take on a similar case. In an order filed Wednesday, Judge Anne E. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey stayed the case. She said Merck & Co. Inc. et al. v. Richard Reynolds et al., which the Supreme Court agreed to hear in May, raised similar questions of law and fact. In granting the stay, Judge Thompson also cited Pfizer's pending request before the high court for a writ of certiorari. Pfizer has asked the Supreme Court to look at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit's reversal of a lower court decision tossing the case. In January, the Third Circuit reinstated the lawsuit after finding that the plaintiffs did not miss the statute of limitations for filing the suit as Judge Thompson had ruled. The New Jersey district court had said that the shareholders had reason to know of the alleged wrongdoing earlier, but the appeals court ruled that the plaintiffs filed the suit in a timely manner once they had reason to suspect that Pharmacia Corp., which merged with Pfizer in 2003, was engaged in culpable wrongdoing. The conflict arose after Pharmacia commissioned a long-term clinical study of Celebrex, according to the appeals court. Unhappy with the results because they did not show a marked safety advantage, Pharmacia released only part of the data in 2000, the plaintiffs said.Scientists affiliated with Pharmacia used the partial data to write an article that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They failed to reveal that only part of the data was used, according to the shareholders.

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